


First Zombie Apocalypse

by dapatty



Category: Castle/Life
Genre: Alternate Universe - Zombies, Crack, Gen, Humor, Zombies
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-07-08
Updated: 2010-07-08
Packaged: 2017-10-26 20:14:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,110
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/287405
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dapatty/pseuds/dapatty
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It was supposed to be one last father-daughter romp in Los Angeles before Alexis went off to college, but the zombies had other plans.</p>
            </blockquote>





	First Zombie Apocalypse

**Author's Note:**

> Beta'd by the lovely [](http://shadowrider.livejournal.com/profile)[**shadowrider**](http://shadowrider.livejournal.com/) .

>"So this is your first zombie apocalypse?" Charlie asked cocking his shotgun.

"Yeah, I haven't even written one." Rick admitted checking his own. "Thought it'd be cooler."

Crews smiled, somewhat sad and said, "Yeah, me too." Then his smile shifted, with more of a twinkle in his eye he said, "But I guess most things are."

***

This is the story of how Richard Castle met Charlie Crews. Pretty standard fare really. Boy met boy by saving him from zombies. Typical, at the very least.

See, it was supposed to be a vacation. One last ridiculous father-daughter romp before Alexis went to college in the fall. He'd let her mom take her shopping, just the once, while he carried their bags. He'd listen to her play argue with Stephen Cannell about how women were ruining science fiction. They'd do all the touristy things-Chinese Theater, Hollywood sign, Santa Monica Pier.

It wasn't supposed to happen like this, not with them separated. He knew better than to just let her and her mom have lunch without him-not with her last words to him on the phone being "Daddy, I'm scared." The call dropped before he could reassure her, tell her that he loves her.

He needed to say those words.

It happened like this. Castle foolishly ducked down into the subway to escape a small gaggle of zombies on his heels. In terms of gaggle, he figured no more than five, or maybe six if the one packing a human head counted, but definitely more than three. Foolish choice because more zombies were probably down there, but his inner New Yorker saw the subway and thought 'familiar.' Maybe it was best to die down here than out in the perfect weather.

Castle had no more than made it down the stairs when a redhead guy with a shotgun shouted, "Duck!" already aiming for the gaggle behind the author.

Castle just managed to leap behind a magazine stand before the redhead opened fire, taking four thundering shots. _So four moaning undead then,_ Castle thought absently.

The quiet after was deafening. He had the fleeting thought that maybe he'd died.

"Hi there," the redhead chirped, sticking his head over the counter and looking at Richard with a friendly smile and blue eyes that almost had a twinkle to them-something mischievous tucked in shining through.

"Hi," Richard returned and felt a little charmed by the guy, but maybe that was to be expected what with the life saving and all.

"You're Richard Castle," the redhead said giving him a funny sort of look between considering and amused.

"Let me guess," Castle said, "You're upset that I killed off Derek Storm."

"Nope," the guy grinned a little. "Sometimes a guy just gets to the end of his road and finds that it ends in death." He shrugged and extended his hand. "Detective Charlie Crews."

"The Charlie Crews?" Castle asked as Charlie pulled him up into a standing position. Castle had, of course, read everything he could about cop who had spent 12 years in jail only to be proven innocent and reinstated to the LAPD. It was no less then eight kinds of fascinating how not only a cop survived so long in jail but was surviving being back out in the real world.

Charlie blushed a little, the tips of his ears tinting pink and looked more than a little uncomfortable. "Yeah, I'm kind of that guy."

"Good cause that guy seems to kind of be a bad ass and I'd like to get back out of here," Castle gave his best disarming grin. "Are you good at finding people too?"

"I'm not bad at it," Charlie said pulling Castle up.

Rick grinned and had a feeling that might have been hope stir in his stomach.

***

Turned out they didn't have to look hard. Alexis found them, with her own somewhat shiny strangers in tow.

"Dad!" she'd exclaimed outside what used to be the court house, jumping over what probably used to be someone's lower half with a young, fresh faced twenty something in tow and another girl hanging back checking the surroundings.

"Zac Efron!?" he exclaimed and she frowned even as Castle rushed over and picked up his daughter twirling her in a circle like she was years younger. "Did you get saved by Zac Efron?"

Charlie smiled crookedly at the pair. He might've been a little charmed by Castle's ferret-esque attention span. He shifted his attention to the dark-haired other girl.

"Actually she saved me," the kid, apparently Zac Efron, scratched the back of his neck a little and looked a touch sheepish.

"She's awesome like that," Castle said, lowering her back on her feet.

"Well, Rachel saved us both," Alexis said, gesturing to the other girl who had walked up to Charlie. The two were sharing a private look, one that said, 'yeah, I'm still here despite this serious crap the universe keeps throwing at me.' Castle knew that feeling.

"She's awesome like that," Charlie spoke, smile fond and sad.

"Well, I didn't exactly have a bad influence," she grinned a little. "Leave it to you to find a crime novelist to weather a zombie apocalypse with."

"You ended up with his daughter and someone who might be famous," Charlie defended, but he was grinning. "You're a good niece."

Rachel rolled her eyes and slung an arm around Charlie's shoulders.

"Right," Castle said taking Alexis arm, causing Efron to pout a little, "this is the part where we walk off into the sunset."

"And to Steve Cannell's house, right?" Alexis asked. "I'm sure he has guns or a zombie preparedness kit or something."

"Hey, where's your mom?" Castle asked hesitantly.

"After Rachel saved us, Mom went off with some firefighter," Alexis dismissed with a wave of hand that said, 'you know how flaky mom is when there's a uniform around.'

The two started to walk down the street and Castle called over his shoulder, "You guys are coming, right?"

Charlie and Rachel shared a look causing Rachel to say, "Someone will have to make sure you two don't lose your brains between here and there."

"You are the next person I'd pick to out scowl a zombie," Charlie agreed guiding her toward the two.

"We'll find Reese, Charlie," Rachel assured and Crews gave her shoulder a squeeze. He knew they would. If anyone was more bad ass to survive hordes of the undead, his partner, Dani Reece, could do it blind-folded, in her sleep, and better than Charlie.

Zac nodded amicably while Rachel grabbed his hand. He looked pleasantly surprised.

"Come on dancer," Rachel said causing him to scowl and Castle to giggle.


End file.
